Boone County is in the middle of the largest single economic development buildout in modern Indiana history. The Limitless Exploration / Advanced Pace Research and Innovation District — known statewide as LEAP — has assembled roughly 9,000 acres in and around Lebanon, the Boone County seat, and the residential and commercial parcel base around it is responding accordingly. The 2026 Form 11 Notices of Assessment mailed April 28, 2026 will be the first cycle in which the early-phase LEAP buildout shows up meaningfully in the surrounding tax base.
Boone County also functions as the I-65 corridor pressure release for Hamilton County growth, with Whitestown and Zionsville absorbing relocations from Carmel, Westfield, and Indianapolis. The 2026 cycle reflects both forces at once.
Boone County 2026 calendar: Form 11 notices mail April 28, 2026. Appeal deadline is June 15, 2026. File a Form 130 with the Boone County Assessor's Office at 127 W. Main Street, Suite 308, Lebanon.
What LEAP Means for the Boone County Tax Base
The LEAP district itself is not generating immediate property tax revenue — the Indiana Economic Development Corporation owns much of the assembled acreage as a state-level entity, and tax-exempt land does not contribute to the county's net assessed value. What LEAP changes is everything around it.
Land Values in Lebanon and Whitestown
The land assembled for LEAP came from agricultural sellers at prices significantly above prior agricultural-use valuations. That sale-price reset has implications for surrounding parcels. The next cycle of Boone County's land valuation work will incorporate those sales as comparables — meaning land-side AVs in the corridor surrounding LEAP are likely to move up over the next several cycles.
Residential Demand
LEAP's eventual employment footprint, combined with the I-65 commuter corridor, has accelerated residential demand in Lebanon, Whitestown, Zionsville, and the smaller communities along SR-39 and SR-32. New construction adds new parcels to the tax base; existing parcels get pulled higher by sales-trending.
Commercial and Industrial Buildout
Suppliers, support services, and adjacent industrial users are positioning around LEAP's anchor occupants. Commercial and industrial parcels operate at the 3% cap rather than the 1% homestead cap, which means AV increases on those parcels translate more directly to tax bills.
Lebanon, Whitestown, and Zionsville
Boone County's three primary growth communities have distinct profiles for the 2026 cycle.
| Community | Profile |
|---|---|
| Lebanon | County seat; LEAP district adjacency; I-65 access |
| Whitestown | Fast-growing residential and industrial; Anson development corridor |
| Zionsville | High median values; established residential character; Boone County's wealthiest community |
Lebanon's effective tax rate runs near 0.87% at the median, lower than Indianapolis but higher than the 1.2% to 1.6% range that some Boone County taxing districts produce when school referendum and special district overlays are layered in. The combination of moderate rates and accelerating AVs makes Boone County's 2026 cycle one of the more consequential in central Indiana.
What to Check on Your Boone County Form 11
The general Form 11 walkthrough applies. Boone-specific items:
Township Assignment
Boone County is divided into twelve townships including Center, Clinton, Eagle, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Marion, Perry, Sugar Creek, Union, Washington, and Worth. A property near a township boundary should have its township coding verified — Whitestown straddles Worth and Eagle townships, for example.
Neighborhood Code
Boone County's neighborhood codes were re-examined as part of the four-year reassessment cycle. With LEAP-adjacent land values rising rapidly, neighborhood reclassifications can produce sudden land-side spikes worth questioning.
Homestead Status After a 2025 Purchase
Boone County had high transaction volume in 2024 and 2025. If you bought in that period and have not filed Form HC-10, your 2026 Form 11 will not show the homestead deduction or the SB 1 $300 supplemental credit. File at the Boone County Auditor's Office before the May 10 spring tax deadline.
School Corporation
Lebanon Community School Corporation, Western Boone County Community Schools, and Zionsville Community Schools serve different parts of the county with different referendum histories and tax rates. Verify the school code on your Form 11.
Land vs. Improvement Split
For parcels in or near the LEAP buffer zone, compare the land-side AV on the 2026 Form 11 to prior cycles. A material land-only spike may reflect the corridor's reset in comparable land sale prices.
Boone County and SB 1
The SB 1 property tax reform package layers onto the LEAP-driven dynamics:
- New $300 supplemental homestead credit on spring 2026 bills
- Supplemental homestead deduction rises from 35% to 40%
- Business personal property exemption rises to $1M for 2026
- New 2% deduction for rental and farmland begins at 13.3%
For Boone County's farmland owners — still meaningful in the western and northern parts of the county — the new 2% farmland deduction is a partial counterweight to the rising land-side AVs that the LEAP corridor's sale activity is producing.
Farmland sale price vs. assessed value: Boone County farmland that sold to LEAP-adjacent assemblers traded at prices well above traditional agricultural-use valuations. If you own farmland near the corridor, your 2026 Form 11 may show the assessor's first attempt to reconcile that gap. Pay close attention to the agricultural-use vs. market-value classification.
Appeal Strategy for Boone County
The Indiana property tax appeal guide covers the statewide procedure. Boone County considerations:
- Form 130 is filed with the Boone County Assessor's Office in Lebanon
- PTABOA hearings are typically scheduled 4 to 8 months after filing
- Comparable sales must come from within the same neighborhood code — LEAP-adjacent sales are not automatically valid comparables for parcels outside the corridor
- For agricultural land, the agricultural-use valuation method differs from market-value comparables and follows DLGF base-rate guidance
The math on appeal payoff in Boone County varies by community. At Lebanon's effective rate near 0.87%, every $10,000 of AV reduction translates to roughly $87 in annual tax savings. In higher-rate Boone County taxing districts, that figure can run as high as $160 per $10,000.
Boone County By the Numbers
| Metric | Boone County |
|---|---|
| County seat | Lebanon |
| Largest growth communities | Lebanon, Whitestown, Zionsville |
| Approximate parcel count | ~30,000 |
| Median effective tax rate | ~0.87% in Lebanon |
| Townships | 12 |
| Form 11 mailing | April 28, 2026 |
| Appeal deadline | June 15, 2026 |
The I-65 Corridor Context
Boone County sits at the intersection of two major economic forces: the I-65 corridor between Indianapolis and Chicago, and the relocation pressure flowing out of Hamilton County as Carmel and Fishers approach buildout. Combined with LEAP, this gives Boone County one of the most concentrated growth signals in the state.
For investors evaluating Boone County rental property, the underwriting question is whether to buy near LEAP for industrial-adjacent demand, near Whitestown for I-65 logistics-adjacent demand, or in Zionsville for high-end residential demand. Each thesis has a different cap-loss exposure and different SB 1 deduction profile.
Filing Logistics
Boone County's Assessor's Office is at 127 W. Main Street, Suite 308, Lebanon. Form 130 can be filed in person or by certified mail. Online filing through the county's portal time-stamps on submission and is the safest option in the final week before June 15.
Property Lookup surfaces your AV alongside neighborhood-coded comparable sales, and Tax Appeal Automation builds the Form 130 package on contingency.
When to Engage
The optimal Boone County filing window for 2026 is between May 1 and May 25 — late enough to have the Form 11 in hand, early enough to engage with assessor staff before the deadline rush. With LEAP-driven changes accelerating, getting an early read on your AV trajectory matters more in Boone County than in slower-moving counties.
Find Your Boone County Property
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